Postal Service won't end Saturday mail delivery — yet

Reducing letter delivery to five days a week would require act of Congress

April 10, 2013|Angela Greiling Keane, Of Bloomberg News

The U.S. Postal Service is backing down on plans to end Saturday mail delivery after acknowledging such a change would require Congressional approval.

The Postal Service's board said Wednesday it must wait for lawmakers to pass legislation before it can end Saturday mail delivery.

The U.S. Postal Service doesn't have the legal authority to end Saturday mail delivery without authorization from Congress and must halt plans to take that step in August, its board said.

The board's action follows a Government Accountability Office opinion last month saying the service didn't have the authority to end Saturday deliveries, a move officials said would save about $2 billion annually.

"The board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time," the Postal Service board said in a statement. The board still supports cutting Saturday delivery if permitted, the statement added.

"The board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly," the statement read.

The board directed service management to seek other ways to lower labor costs, including reopening contract negotiations with its unions.

In moving to eliminate Saturday delivery, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said he relied on a new interpretation of law governing the service based on the fact the government is operating with temporary funding, to declare he didn't need Congress's permission to reduce letter delivery to five days a week.